A well designed conventional planing hull increases the transverse metacenter and at the same time lowers the longitudinal metacenter while longitudinal metacenter of a stepped planing hull is necessarily increased and the hull tends to plunge through rather than ride over steep waves. A hull having a low metacenter allows change of trim with sufficient rapidity for the hull to accommodate itself to normal wave slopes.
While various ship hull constructions have incorporated articulated hull designs in an attempt to increase the ability of the hull to ride over waves with reduced pitching, these previous attempts have not been wholly effective for various reasons. Examples of various forms of articulated hulls are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 45,039, 2,715,380, 2,747,536, 3,035,536, 3,145,681 and 3,307,564.